Al-hijamah and oral honey for treating thalassemia, conditions of iron overload, and hyperferremia: toward improving the therapeutic outcomes

Abstract

Iron overload causes iron deposition and accumulation in the liver, heart, skin, and other tissues resulting in serious tissue damages. Significant blood clearance from iron and ferritin using wet cupping therapy (WCT) has been reported. WCT is an excretory form of treatment that needs more research efforts. WCT is an available, safe, simple, economic, and time-saving outpatient modality of treatment that has no serious side effects. There are no serious limitations or precautions to discontinue WCT. Interestingly, WCT has solid scientific and medical bases (Taibah mechanism) that explain its effectiveness in treating many disease conditions differing in etiology and pathogenesis. WCT utilizes an excretory physiological principle (pressure-dependent excretion) that resembles excretion through renal glomerular filtration and abscess evacuation. WCT exhibits a percutaneous excretory function that clears blood (through fenestrated skin capillaries) and interstitial fluids from pathological substances without adding a metabolic or detoxification burden on the liver and the kidneys. Interestingly, WCT was reported to decrease serum ferritin (circulating iron stores) significantly by about 22.25% in healthy subjects (in one session) and to decrease serum iron significantly to the level of causing iron deficiency (in multiple sessions). WCT was reported to clear blood significantly of triglycerides, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, total cholesterol, uric acid, inflammatory mediators, and immunoglobulin antibodies (rheumatoid factor). Moreover, WCT was reported to enhance the natural immunity, potentiate pharmacological treatments, and to treat many different disease conditions. There are two distinct methods of WCT: traditional WCT and Al-hijamah (WCT of prophetic medicine). Both start and end with skin sterilization. In traditional WCT, there are two steps, skin scarification followed by suction using plastic cups (double S technique); Al-hijamah is a three-step procedure that includes skin suction using cups, scarification (shartat mihjam in Arabic), and second skin suction (triple S technique). Al-hijamah is a more comprehensive technique and does better than traditional WCT, as Al-hijamah includes two pressure-dependent filtration steps versus one step in traditional WCT. Whenever blood plasma is to be cleared of an excess pathological substance, Al-hijamah is indicated. We will discuss here some reported hematological and therapeutic benefits of Al-hijamah, its medical bases, methodologies, precautions, side effects, contraindications, quantitative evaluation, malpractice, combination with oral honey treatment, and to what extent it may be helpful when treating thalassemia and other conditions of iron overload and hyperferremia.

Comparison Biochemistries of Obtained Blood Products between The Hijama and Phlebotomy Techniques of Traditional Islamic Remedy;Healthy Young Adults at Fasting State

“…Cupping therapy is the oldest method, and wet-cupping is one of the classes of cupping in Chinese Traditional Medicine. The previous method was recorded as a treatment tool in 200 years ago [16]. The Hijama technique included two components; cupping and scarification.…”

Evaluation of the Effect of Hijama Bi'l Shart in Waja-Ul-Mafasil (Knee Osteoarthritis): An Open Labelled Randomized Controlled Comparative Clinical Study

“…Knee Pain: The observed effect of Hijama bi'l Shart on the knee pain may be put in the way, that when skin is punctured through scarification, it leads to release of β-endorphin (endogenous analgesic Opioid) and adrenocortical hormones into the circulation 44,45,46 . Both β-endorphin and adrenocortical hormones could be helpful in blocking inflammation in OA 45,47,48 .…”

Ameliorating Role Exerted by Al-Hijamah in Autoimmune Diseases : Effect on Serum Autoantibodies and Inflammatory Mediators

“…7). Al-hijamah versus phlebotomy and plasmapheresisTherapeutic benefits and improvements reported after Al-hijamah were better than those reported after phlebotomy (69)(70)(71) where Al-hijamah improved much better the arterial O 2 saturation and respiration when treating smoking in patients having chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases without causing significant blood loss. (69) Al-hijamah was reported to do better than phlebotomy in decreasing CRP dramatically and improving the ESR in patients having chronic urticaria and angioedema.…”

“…Detailed differences between Al-hijamah and phlebotomy were previously reported. (44,71) Autoimmune diseases (including RA) exhibit a similar abnormality in blood chemistry as in RA i.e. they have high serum level of autoimmune antibodies and immune complexes (tables 3-4).…”

“…However, inevitable minor trauma may occur to the capillaries at some scarification points and cause the excretion to be bloody. (42,44,71) Superficial skin scarifications (shartatmihjam in Arabic) represent proper practice of Al-hijamah while deep skin scarifications may injure deeper blood vessels and represent a malpractice that may cause significant bleeding. Al-hijamah is a pressure-dependent filtration procedure that is done through the fenestrated skin capillaries using suction pressure created inside suction cups.…”